Student Poster Competition Winners at AbSciCon 2017

Written byJulie Fletcher

The NASA Astrobiology Institute was pleased to once again sponsor the Student Poster Competition at the Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) 2017. As with previous AbSciCon conferences, this event provided motivation, encouragement, and most of all, recognition to astrobiologists of the future.

Thank you to the 85 students and 43 judges that participated in the competition!

The first place poster, with an award of $1000, went to Jacqueline Long from the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida. Her poster was titled: Chlorophyll-f: Earth’s Unseen Production and Habitability Under Red Light.
You can read her abstract at: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2017/pdf/3472.pdf

The second place poster, with an award of $750, went to Marcus Bray from the School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA. His poster was titled: Bacterial Ribosomes Incorporate Iron Under Pre-GOE Conditions.
You can read his abstract at: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2017/pdf/3419.pdf

The third place poster, with an award of $500, went to Vincent Riggi from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. His poster was titled: Abiotic Catalysis of RNA Polymerization in Aqueous Metal Chloride Solutions.
You can read his abstract at: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2017/pdf/3429.pdf